Holiday shopping this year is expected to move toward gift cards and experiential gifts as opposed to physical items, according to PwC's 2016 Holiday Outlook.

This could bode well for transportation and logistics companies that face increased pressure during the holidays, due to consumer deadlines for gift-giving and potential weather disruptions. Furthermore, an additional expected spike in e-commerce sales this year should encourage online merchants to focus on offering experiential promotions that appease consumer desires.

Nearly half of all US holiday shoppers plan to buy a nonphysical gift:

But alternative options are not far behind: Thirty-two percent are planning to give a gift card, and 16% plan to give an experiential gift — like a trip or event tickets.

Almost half of all holiday spend will go toward the latter: 42% of overall holiday spending in the US will go toward travel and entertainment this year.

A lesser focus on physical gift-giving could be a boon for transportation and logistics companies. Consumer deadlines for gift-giving and inclement winter weather make fulfillment companies particularly vulnerable to shopper dissatisfaction during the holidays. Therefore, a shift toward experiential gifts may serve as a benefit for logistics companies like FedEx and UPS that have historically had trouble completing holiday deliveries. FedEx's on-time delivery rate in the week before Christmas 2015 was 95%, according to ShipMatrix, compared to 91% for UPS.

Online merchants need to meet consumer demands this holiday season. E-commerce holiday sales are expected to grow 25% year-over-year (YoY), according to the PwC report. While this includes purchases of both physical and experiential gifts, physical-goods retailers should focus on appeasing these shifting consumer desires in order to excel this holiday season. One way to do this would be to roll out digital gift-card capabilities that eliminate the need for a home-delivery package, and better provide shoppers with what they are seeking when buying gifts.